Tag Archives | Parent trigger

Did they really say that (about education reform in Florida)?

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On May 18, 2012 in Education reporting, Funding, General, rebuttED, Testing and Accountability

As you know, we keep tabs on what’s written and said about school choice and ed reform, particularly in Florida. This week has been a doozy when it comes to head-scratching statements. Today we highlight a few and offer a quick response …

In just a few years, Orlando-based Fund Education Now has become the leading parent group in Florida. Aggressive. Media savvy. Super effective. I respect its members for their passion. I sometimes agree with them. But there are times when the rhetoric is at odds with reality.

After this week’s FCAT fiasco, the group wrote in an action alert to members: “These abysmal FCAT Writes scores are proof that Tallahassee’s ‘education reforms’ are an unmitigated disaster.” I agree the state raised the bar too fast and too fast on some of our standardized tests. But have the state’s policies as a whole flat-out bombed?

In the past four years, Florida has ranked No. 11, No. 8, No. 5 and No. 11 among all 50 states in Education Week’s annual Quality Counts report. And contrary to some critics’ claims, that’s not just because of policies on paper that sound good; it’s also because the state has moved the needle on student achievement, particularly for low-income kids. On the K-12 achievement portion of EdWeek’s rating – which considers performance and progress on NAEP, AP and graduation rates – Florida finished at No. 7, No. 7, No. 6 and No. 12 over the past four years. In 2011, it finished in the Top 10 in eight of nine progress categories. It finished in the Top 3 in six of them.

The reason Florida tumbled out of the overall top 10 this year is because of budget cuts, and because its NAEP scores have stalled in reading and math. That’s troubling when the state is still nowhere near where it needs to be. I think that’s what led the state Board of Education to be too bold in raising the bar.

But Florida’s policy makers, like them or not, have been more right than wrong in the past decade when it comes to standards and accountability and school choice. To deny there’s been progress is good for stoking fury and mobilizing troops. But it’s unfair to the teachers who made it happen. And it could undermine changes that really did make things better for kids.

In an op-ed Sunday, syndicated columnist Bill Maxwell describes what he sees as another round of teacher bashing in Florida and blames “conservative lawmakers who dominate Tallahassee” and are gunning to privatize public schools. The prompt for his outrage: A cost-cutting decision by the Pinellas County School District to curb the use of individual printers by teachers. Continue Reading →

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Parent trigger founder: school reform changed ‘we the people to we the parents’

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On May 3, 2012 in General, Parent empowerment

As is routine with school choice proposals, the parent trigger bill in Florida – defeated in March after a dramatic 20-20 vote in the state Senate – was portrayed by critics as another front in a systematic campaign to privatize public schools. So it was fascinating today to hear more detail about the history and motivations behind the bill from Gloria Romero, the former California state senator – and Democrat – who sponsored the original trigger bill in that state.

“This is a law that’s so simple, it’s revolutionary,” Romero told participants at the American Federation for Children summit in Newark. “This law has the power to really shift paradigms, to give true power – not just lip service, no longer window dressing – to parents who are sick and tired of failing schools.”

“I wanted to have a law for parents based on the most basic foundations of our democracy,” she also said. “Think back. Petitioning our government. We the people. And if we could change that from we the people to we the parents, with the power of our signatures, our Johnny Hancocks, to collectively sign a petition, present it those of us who are supposed to be looking out for our interests, and basically saying, ‘If you won’t do it, then basically, get the hell out of the way and we will.’ ”

We’ve attached a recording of Romero’s remarks below. They followed a passionate speech about vouchers by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, which you can read about here and here and here. Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal is the keynote speaker tonight. Stay tuned and follow us on Twitter at @redefinEDonline.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

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Voucher, school choice families are not pawns for the ‘corporate agenda’

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On April 2, 2012 in Education reporting, General, Parent empowerment, Parental Choice

Families who benefit from expanded school choice options – charter schools, virtual schools, vouchers, tax credit scholarships – are increasingly being portrayed as pawns in a coordinated campaign to privatize public schools. That’s especially troubling given that the voices of those families are so rarely included in the conversation.

The latest example: Statements from a movement to end high-stakes, standardized testing.

United Opt Out National, which led an effort over the weekend to “occupy” the U.S. Department of Education in Washington, D.C., says it wants to “end Wall Street Occupation of Education.” Among its goals: An end to “the use of public education funds to enact school ‘choice’ measures influenced and supported by the corporate agenda.”

This story in The Florida Independent about the group’s efforts (a Miami-Dade teacher/parent is among the group’s leaders) focused most specifically on its concerns about for-profit charter schools. But by referencing vouchers and tax credit scholarships, the story suggested those options were also part of a plot to undermine public schools.

That kind of characterization about school choice is happening more and more as newspapers and TV stations echo the emotional story line that gets repeated the most. Continue Reading →

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redefinED roundup: tax credit scholarships in South Carolina, parent triggers in Colorado and more

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On April 2, 2012 in Charter Schools, Education and Public Policy, General, Parent empowerment, Parental Choice, School Choice

Louisiana:  State Superintendent John White: Teachers are soldiers in fight for social justice. (Baton Rouge Advocate) State House passes bill for program similar to tax-credit scholarships. (New Orleans Times Picayune.) Voucher and charter school proposal rolls through state Senate committee. (Shreveport Times.)

South Carolina: State House passes major expansion of school choice, including tax credit scholarships for low-income students and students with disabilities. (Associated Press)

New Hampshire: State House passes tax credit scholarship bill, but Gov. John Lynch has “real concerns.” (Nashua Telegraph)

Oregon: Op-ed: Expanding school choice will promote student responsibility. (News and Herald) Continue Reading →

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Parent trigger founder: Teachers unions launched “sweep and destroy” mission to deny parents

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On March 28, 2012 in General, Parent empowerment, Parental Choice, Unionism

Two weeks ago, Gloria Romero, the former California state senator who wrote the original parent trigger law, wrote in this redefinED piece that the “status quo” killed the parent trigger bill in Florida. Today in this op-ed for the Los Angeles Times, Romero uses much tougher language – and singles out a specific foe - to describe the parent trigger battle in two California locales. Some excerpts:

In both Adelanto and Compton, parents trying to exercise their rights felt the full onslaught of a “sweep and destroy” mission launched by the California Teachers Assn. and its affiliates. What had taken weeks to build was destroyed in a few days of heavy-handed lobbying. Parents have reported being told outright lies about charter law and about their rights. Some parents reported that they were even threatened with deportation if they didn’t rescind their signatures …

A recent survey by California Common Cause revealed that the top lobbying force in the state in 2011 was the 300,000-plus membership of the California Teachers Assn. In other words, the massive teachers union is the top political force in the eighth-largest economy in the world. The union has made it clear that it wants to take the trigger out of the hands of mothers and fathers. Parents who attempt to lobby for their children now find themselves on a collision course with this powerful organization …

So what can we do to help parents actually see things clearly without biased interference? We need to direct attention to failing schools, so that parents understand the situation and understand that they are not alone. And when they send out cries for help, we should defend their right to occupy a political arena previously dominated by vested interests.

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redefinED roundup: Jalen Rose’s charter school in Michigan, vouchers in Louisiana and more

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On March 26, 2012 in Charter Schools, Education and Public Policy, General, Parent empowerment, Parental Choice, redefinED roundup

Louisiana: State House passes voucher bill (New Orleans Times Picayune) with bipartisan support. (redefinED)

Michigan: Charter school started by former basketball star Jalen Rose has more applicants than openings. (MLive)

Florida: Parent trigger bill apparently died for reasons other than pros and cons of parent triggers. (Sunshine State News)

New Hampshire: State senate gives preliminary approval to tax credit scholarships, while House is scheduled to vote later this month. (Boston.com)

Kansas: Catholic institutions and Libertarians form alliance to back tax credit scholarship bill. (Topeka Capital-Journal) Continue Reading →

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Low-income parents are also underdogs in ed reform

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On March 23, 2012 in Education reporting, General, Parent empowerment, Parental Choice

Everybody loves the underdog except when it comes to education reform. More than a week after the Florida Senate rejected the parent trigger bill, the story line is now David v. Goliath, with David (played by established parent groups like the Florida PTA and Fund Education Now) squeaking out a victory over Goliath (starring Jeb Bush, Michelle Rhee, and the Republican-dominated Legislature.)

The truth is, titans clashed while David was en route to his second job.

The underdogs who are lost in this narrative are low-income and working-class parents. They have virtually no one in their corner as they deal with conditions in their schools that would spark outrage – and quick remedies – if they happened in more affluent schools.

To take teacher quality and equity as an example: High-poverty schools have the highest teacher turnover rates, the most rookie teachers, the most out-of-field teachers, the most teachers who failed certification exams, the fewest board certified, etc.  We all know how destructive that is, year after year, kid after kid, generation after generation. And yet, it’s just kind of accepted. Continue Reading →

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In parent trigger debate, teachers unions sounded an awful lot like management

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On March 22, 2012 in General, Parent empowerment, Parental Choice, Unionism

I started teaching in the fall of 1977, and by the winter of 1978 I had become a union organizer. A law authorizing public employees to participate in collective bargaining had passed a few years earlier in the Florida legislature, and public educators were actively organizing themselves into unions.

Management was hostile toward our efforts. They asserted that unions would pit teacher against teacher, and teachers against management. They said collaboration was the key to improving our working conditions – not the adversarial relationships that are inherent in unions. They set up teacher advisory councils and said we didn’t need unions. They said we had input through the councils.

Management always uses these arguments to fight union organizers, which is why I wasn’t surprised they surfaced during the recent parent trigger debate in Florida. The parent trigger legislation is part of an effort by progressive Democrats to begin unionizing parents in school districts, and management is opposing their efforts. But it’s ironic that teachers unions are also opposing parent unions and using the same arguments management used against them in the 1970s. Continue Reading →

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Florida parent trigger debate didn’t bring out best from established parent groups

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On March 13, 2012 in Education reporting, General, Parent empowerment, Parental Choice

Amidst all the inflated rhetoric that defined the debate over Florida’s parent trigger bill, one persistent claim stood out as particularly jarring: the notion that low-income parents don’t know how to act in the best interests of their children.

That much of this language came from white, suburban parent activists makes it all the more disconcerting.

The parent trigger is “just a method for uninformed, inactive parents to be used to shut schools down,” said Rita Solnet, a Palm Beach County parent who co-founded Parents Across America.

“It uses a parent’s love to pull the trigger and pass all that they hold dear into the hands of for-profit corporations eager to peel off a chunk of every child’s per pupil funding for themselves,” said Linda Kobert, a co-founder of Fund Education Now.

After the parent trigger went down in flames Friday, the Orlando Sentinel continued with the same theme.

“This bad bill would have cued the stampede of for-profit charter school companies looking to sweet talk frustrated parents and turn a fast buck,” its editorial board wrote.

There’s no doubt that if one of the biggest newspapers in Florida suggested that the savvy, passionate, well-meaning parents behind the Florida PTA, Parents Across America and Fund Education Now had been “sweet talked” into their opposition by the teachers unions and the Democratic Party — and let’s face it, the links between those groups are obvious — they’d be ripped to shreds. Continue Reading →

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Parent trigger founder: What happened in Florida ‘only a temporary setback’

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On March 13, 2012 in General, Parent empowerment, Parental Choice

When Florida’s parent trigger bill sadly failed on a 20-20 vote in the Senate last Friday, parents in the state’s worst performing schools lost an opportunity to change their schools, their lives, and their children’s lives for the better.

The debate seemed to turn mysteriously on fears of privatization through charter schools, even though converting the school to a charter was only one of four options parents could have elected under the legislation. Given that Florida already has many charter schools, I find it baffling why allowing parents access to this option was so threatening to the education establishment.

Fortunately, Florida still has options for parents who want to leave a failing school, but the demand for options such as a tax credit scholarship or a charter school exceeds the supply. To a large degree, though, these kinds of options are not really the point of parent trigger legislation. For most families, the ideal situation is a high-quality neighborhood school. This is particularly true for low-income families that struggle with juggling multiple jobs, child care and transportation.

If we believe that strong families, parents and neighborhoods are at the heart of American society, Florida just lost a precious opportunity to empower revitalization. No neighborhood is truly successful if its schools don’t work. The traditional education model strips away the authority of parents to do much about these schools when it simply assigns children to schools according to zip code. But because education is such a fundamental part of life, stripping away this power and authority has implications far beyond just education. It robs parents and families of a feeling that they have influence more broadly on their community.

That’s why parent trigger legislation is so important. Continue Reading →

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